Critics Charge that FBI Spying on Peace Groups Chills Free Speech

Interview with Barbara Olshansky, attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights conducted by Scott Harris

When the Bush administration made public its plan to invade and overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein in the summer of 2002, peace activists across America began organizing opposition to the coming war. Using the Internet and alternative media to spread the word, hundreds of new local and national anti-war groups were formed and in just a few short months came together by the hundreds of thousands to demonstrate against the march to war.

The corporate media initially marginalized their coverage of the antiwar protests until the numbers of people in the streets were just too big to ignore. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it appears, maintained a keen interest in these groups from the beginning. A recently leaked confidential FBI memorandum details how government agents have collected information on the tactics, training and structure of legal peace organizations and enlisted local police departments to become their eyes in ears in monitoring these groups.

Recent press reports, citing the FBI memo, have confirmed what activists and civil liberties advocates have long suspected about government surveillance of constitutionally protected political activities. In an echo of the many documented abuses of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, the Bureau justifies their actions by declaring that spying on the president's political opponents is simply part of the government's post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism measures. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Barbara Olshansky, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who takes a critical look at the FBI's surveillance of dissidents and the chilling effect it has on free speech.

Contact the Center for Constitutional Rights at (212) 614-6464 or visit the group's website at www.ccr-ny.org

Related links:

The American Civil Liberties Union www.aclu.org The Center for Constitutional Rights' Campaign to "Indict" Attorney General John Ashcroft, www.peoplevashcroft.org

"Ashcroft's relaxed FBI guidelines allow targeting of antiwar protesters" www.peoplevashcroft.org, Nov. 26, 2003. The FBI seems ready to take us back to the days of Cointelpro

"F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies," by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, Nov. 23, 2003

"Mission Creep Hits Home," by William M. Arkin, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 23, 2003

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